I think some of you might be interested in what I’m doing at my “other job” today. I’m supposed to be interviewing Ankie Spitzer at the JCC Maccabi Games in Rockland.

For those who don’t know, or who can’t place the name, Ankie Spitzer is the widow of one of the 11 Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Her husband was the Israeli fencing coach.

Since then, Spitzer has been leading the fight to have a moment of silence in remembrance of those 11, and again this year, on the 40th anniversary of the atrocity, she was rebuffed by the IOC, despite efforts made by the JCC Rockland, which began a petition that had more than 100,000 signatures. Spitzer attended the Maccabi Games opening ceremony Sunday night.

238 Comments

Carp – i must say i think most British people were in favour of a minute’s silence for the victims of Munich, but the IOC said the only thing they would allow was a ceremony held separately and not something to be part of the opening or closing ceremonies. The usual bury your head in the sand and it will go away routine…

The players I follow on twitter have had some interesting comments lately on this whole debacle. I like this one from Prust (yes, I still follow him): “I wonder how many blocked shots, hits, fights, stitches, broken bones, concussions, and surgerys gary has had? http://bit.ly/QuwH0q”

I think Fehr has been pretty open on what to expect today. There will be no counter proposal per se, in terms of suggesting how much players think they are willing to settle on. There will be no 50% split, as opposed to 46% share. It doesn’t sound like they will present a rollback of, let’s say 10% as opposed to 24% etc. Looks like they are going to present a totally different approach philosophically. Not sure whether it’s a luxury tax of some sort, or anything else. They will present the league with their approach to revenue sharing in order to keep every team viable. I also think they will base a lot of their presentation on what they believe should be hockey and non-hockey related revenue. It’ll be largely based on those multi-page independent audits they asked for a couple of weeks ago. Nothing the owners are going to like…..

Mama, have fun seeing the fake boss at Fenway Field! You never know, i may not allow u to go see the fake boss in NY in September. So a -bird- Bird in hand is worth 2 in the -bush- toosh!! Haha!

Carp, thats a nice story, cant wait to read it tomorrow. The IOC had some lame excuse like they didnt want to have a moment of silence or something like that. But this year, they had a moment of silence for a different happening that occurred in GB this year. By all rights, there should be a moment of silence during every Olympics opening ceremony for the tragedy, to remeber the victims, but also because it is a part of Olympic history. Its almost like the IOC is trying to pretend like it never happened.

I can’t understand the NHL. Bettman will say that the league has never been healthier out of one side of his mouth, and cries poverty out of the other. The problem in the NHL is that it is TOO BIG!!! Too many teams. How can a guy dole out a $100 mil contract to Kovalchuk, and not be able to pay his bills a year later? AFTER A CUP RUN?!? These wannabe owners who have no business owning a team (except to compensate for their other shortcomings), are ruining the NHL!!! How can Jamison hardly afford the purchase price of the Coyotes, yet be expected to run the team in the coming years? And compete? It’s a joke. If I were Hanke, or Ovie my fat ass would go home and play. It is a DISGRACE that we are even talking about this again. The NHL ABSOLUTELY must contract.

Think about it: Is any league that has a Tom Sestito not ripe for contraction?

I realize Bettman is a puppet for the owners. But this problem really has nothing to do with the players. It is more of a large market profits vs small market profits.

Bettman gets a bonus for growning the league, and making it profitable. Looks like he’s done his job. Why would his salary double to $8M, since 04. I’m not a fan of Bettman, but there is really no fix for the small market teams in the south that are not profitable. Build a winner and they will come.

Our college team draws more fans in the seats than Phoenix, Florida, Islanders, Columbus, and the old Thrashers. Can’t say that about the Jet’s. The PEG only holds 15,000, but it will be sold out for years.

Who wins this time around the Owners or the Players? I’m not sure, but the loser will be the FANS. They can’t win. Their seats are going up, how much did the seats go up at MSG? Not a problem for the Blueshirt fans, but look at the Islanders and Devils. In pretty much the same market. I know who cares about the Fishsticks and the Debbies. The Islanders will have to move off the island, and the Debbies shoot themselves in the foot with Kovy’s contract.

The Blueshirts Fans lose this year as well. Dolan brings in Nash, the team is set up to win, and now we don’t have a season. (Forget about how much your season tickets have gone up)

Cannot wait to read that story tomorrow. I remember you posted a link a few months ago where we could sign a petition to have a moment of silence at the Olympics in London..obviously nothing came of it even though im sure it got millions of signatures. Damn shame.

The fans always lose. I was talking to a friend who said that he’s going to a baseball game at Camden Yards. The tickets are reasonable – about $50 to $75. 75 bucks to watch a baseball game? What average American Joe can afford that even for just him and his wife?

I just bought tickets to the Giants-Panthers game. $200 per ticket before fees. We’re going to spend 500 bucks to watch one game.

I will more than likely go to the Rangers-Hurricanes game if they have it (it’s in October) and halfway decent seats are $60-$75. And, that’s cheap by NHL standards.

The average guy can’t afford just two tickets much less a family of four. When you add the travel to the game and the parking it’s just not attainable. And then the average guy has to learn that ticket prices are going up because the players and owners need more money. Ugh.

My office is moving about 2 hours out of the city to the town where my Boss moved to. There is also some off merging occurring. Luckily I have been looking for a job for months so finding out about just really confirmed that I need to leave.

Manny – have you ever considered professing the law? There should be some adjunct positions ranging from business law and up? With your personality, you and your students would love it… It really is the best line of work…not sure what your undergrad is in but you could even aim in that direction if teaching the law isn’t the subject you truly love!!!

The IOC seems to operate exactly like the UN. Two piece of byfuglien carcillo organizations. GET THE US OUT OF THE UN, and the UN OUT OF THE US!! That is all!™! …or at least get Rod Urks to write them a bunch of blog posts! That would really URK them!

I know Cindy and Malkinstein are at the negotiations today but wouldnt the NHLPA be better sending Paul Bissonette? Imagine their horror as BizNasty2.0 sits and tweets the Owners and Buttman’s responses to their proposals.

God (of any flavour) certainly has a sense of humour. I’ve supported the Rangers since 94 and my work is likely to send me to New York City for three months from October AND THERE WON’T BE ANY BYFUGLIEN SEASON!

Manny – google colleges and universities in and around the ny/NJ area – call and ask for HR… Probably download applications – you will need your transcripts (unofficial at first is ok) a CV depending on what you’ve done – a good cover letter – feel free to use me as reference – I can totally prep you once interviews are scheduled …

YOU know, Brooklyn never did regain it’s identity after the Dodgers went west, and you cannot say they melded into the Mets because the Giants had a huge following those great years of Bobby Thomson etc, with Sal the Barber, Willie Say Hey, A;l Dark, et al,and those of us who lived thru the nuttiness of them with those lst year Mets, with the balls bouncing off the 1st baseman’s head name forgotten but I recall the guy, Ron Hunt whose specialty was getting hit by pitches, and a few other hilarious performers. The comedy relief made up a bit for the Amazin’s as old Case labeled them,
and his forlorn question, ” ain’t ANYBODY here who knows how to play this game?”

But the old Dodgers were forever Brooklyn’s team. ( Originally called the Trolley dodgers, so what’s in that name for LA?)

Shhhhhh… dont tell him……. I sent a surprise to Tony. I was in his Rangers mancave in AZ, its seriously awesome. He has newspaper clippings of events framed on the wall. One of them is of Munson’s passing. So I sent him Munson’s last game on DVD, and the very next Yankees game in which Murcer drove in all 5 runs to win the game in memory of Munson.

Do you have the Gmen vs redskin game early 70’s when giants down 34-17 late came back to win 38-34 I think? Tucker fredrickson and Ron Johnson had big games and Ron Johnson was given a shout out by Ed Sullivan that night in the David letterman theater.

Or any copy radio or tv of game 3 1975 rangers islanders ( the famous zach Parise’s father ot win)?? – loudest garden crowd I ever heard as they were down 3-0 going into the third and came back to tie!!

Red Sox players hate Valentine. He won’t let them smoke, drink, inject drugs, or play cards in the dugout during games and expects them to run out ground balls. What a bunch of pampered losers. The Mets might suck, but there’s not one of them who doesn’t hustle and give his best, offense and defense.

If the score of the game was 35-33 Giants, it happened in 1970 and one person has that game. There is no 38-34 score that the Giants won. 8 people have the Game 3 1975 Rangers Islanders that the Isles won.

WE had Joey Kocur, Churla ,McSorley, Brashear, Boogaard,Prust ,Tie Domi and the list goes on.
I wanna goon and I wanna keep him. I want to embrace our leader whom beats the tar outta everyone whom byfuguglins with any of our players. Now Prust was too small. I loved the little traitor but he wasn’t really a big guy goon. He fought like one and he was tough as well a smart. Im gonna really miss him .So whos next? Rupp? Naww he got beat a few times and he’ll never leave any legacy. Asham? Doubt it , maybe he go ” ugly” in NY and freak out and “Mcsorley somebody”??? We need a presence-force type of guy , big , mean, tough , fights all the time type goon. I mean a guy we can really embrace. Maybe Mcilrath ???

If the players flatline their their % to a fixed dollar amount. Let the owners keep the future growth, $250M per year, for teams that need extra $ to stablize losses. Could be a win – win for both parties.

What a difference in personalities. Fehr selling fairness with a partnership with the larger markets, while Bettmen threatens lockout if the owners don’t get what they “need”.

I was impressed with Fehr, perhaps he should be the commisioner of the NHL.

In golden hannibal Carthage days, marching into Rome
Knockin on the door and finding nobody home there
Rome she cut our army down and left them in the snow there so now
I go to where I come from now I go home to the sun
When the earth moves again, when the earth moves again my friend
Let the lady ride on through…

I don’t need to watch Fox News or Rush Limbaugh to tell me what to think or what to believe. I lived in the Soviet Union and wouldn’t wish that life on anyone. If you want to see where this country is headed, just look at Europe and the disaster that socialism has brought that entire continent. The only countries their that are doing well ironically are some of the former satellite states like Poland,Estonia,Czech republic and a few others.

And just or the record, I read and admire people like Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, and the great Ronald Reagen. You could learn a lot reading what these outstanding people wrote or watching several of the videos available about them on YouTube.

Try it. It is better than reading the New York Times or watching Msnbc.

The players proposal is pure genuis. They are essentially agreeing to holding the lines on salaries/lessening their take while taking the ball and putting it squarely in the owners court and saying “Here, YOU fight amongst yourselves over money”

All that knowledge and life experience and you can’t even figure out that ”if you have a successful business, you didn’t build that” is a pitiful attempt to take someone’s speech and manipulate it to put a false meaning to it?

You have all the reading down, now you need to work on the meaning of the words he actually spoke.

I know exactly what he actually spoke. I actually watched the speech as he said it.

Our tax dollars paid for the roads, and the teachers and the other garbadge he was spewing.The tax dollars we pay on the profits we make by producing a good and service to meet the demand of the consumer. Than we take those tax dollars and build roads with it because we decide on a local level that we need those roads. Than we take more of those tax dollars and higher teachers if we choose to because we need to educate our children so that they can follow in our footsteps and have an even better life than we had.

Czech – inflation?????? There is no inflation. Economists are more worried about deflation.

The Fed would not have to do what it’s done if the congress did it’s job. Now is the perfect time to invest in infrastructure. Interests rates are low, borrowing costs are low, there is high unemplyoment so labor costs are low. There is no other demand from other sectors of the economy. So the multiplier effect would high if the government would start spending.

Obama is not a socialist, he is a Marxist. Adam Smith is only one of the people I admire and I am fully aware of some of the limitations that exist in the free market. As for Stallin, you are playing semantics.

Olga
My point on Truman was that he just finished what someone else started and nothing more.
The bomb was built by US tax payer dollars not by Truman.

Czech – I have women friends, gay friends, and lesbian friends. A romney/ryan ticket takes their rights and shoves them right up their assens. The same rights that you just vigorously argued were lacking in the USSR would be stripped from women and gay americans. You cannot have it both ways….

There is no inflation? Have you been to a store for basic groceries? and you believe the ridiculous option put out by the fed that there is no inflation? Bernanke and Obama and Bush for that matter have destroyed the US dollar ! Bernanke can’t print it fast enough for Obama to spend.

This president had total control of the house,senate for the first two years of his failed presidency and passed every thing he wanted to, including the stimulus bill that was supposed to go to infrastructure spending and all it did was create a huge budget deficit and destroy the dollar and buying power of the American consumer. Gas has almost tripled in the first three and a half years of his reign of error. The man has spent over 5 trillion dollars in three years with nothing to show for it. The fed owns 62% of all the new debt sold to the public.

You probably believe that food stamps stimulate the economy as well because your idle Obama does. You make me laugh with the Paul Krugman talking points.

Oh and by the way, Leon Panetta gave the order to kill Bin Laden because Mr. I vote present had to sleep on it for three days while the special ops were waiting for him to make a presidential decision.

Exactly what rights would women, gays and lesbians lose if Romney/ Ryan were to be elected?

Abortion? Please. It would take 2/3 of the states to ratify any constitutional changes to abortion and that would never pass anyway.

Gay marriage? Is not an issue I want to even discuss as it is an issue like most others used by the left as a wedge issue. Most states already recognize civil unions which has the same benefits as marriage without being called marriage.

Czech – Food prices are up mostly because of natural disasters – drought, fires, etc. Inflation measures the change in *overall prices*. Food is up, but overall, there really hasn’t been much inflation. Perhaps oil costs as well. Nevertheless, much of the spending increases began on W’s watch. As far as nothing to show for the spending, we are not presently in a depression. But, dinner is on the table and I have to go….However, we can continue this civilly another time, my brutha….

Just so ou know, I am not a big fan of Romney as I don’t believe he shares a lot of my beliefs. I do like Ryan a lot and wish he was at the Top of the ticket. By the way, he has been elected to congress 7 seven times coming out of a predominantly liberal district that Obama carried by a margin of 70-30.

But I am curious, how would Romney/Ryan turn this country back to the 1890’s in your opinion?

Czech – hi again….In 7 terms, Ryan has passed 2 bills into law. Look, Republican operatives are against the Ryan pick…did you see Mark Mckinnon’s take on Ryan. The majority of Americans are not such idealogues and find Ryan Oppressive….his own state shows 38% favorable, 33% unfavorable…

Ryan is against contraception. He believes the nano second the sperm hits the egg, its a person…..He wants to deny woman the right to use contraception..he would fundamentally fight to repeal Roe V Wade….The SCOTUS may have some openings next term….Romney/Ryan would stack the courts with Right wing nut case jurists and then Uh-OH….

Enjoy dinner! And we should continue this some other time. Just a few things in closing.

W spent a lot of money, no doubt about it. But Obama has spent twice as much in three years. In fact, he’s spent more money than Washington to Reagen combined my man.

Food prices are up primarily because the dollar has been destroyed by Obama, Bernanke.

You see, oil settles in US dollars. As the dollar goes lower, the price of oil goes higher making energy costs dramatically increase. That has a major impact on energy costs. Increased energy costs hurts every sector of the economy including transportation,agriculture,etc.. It than has a huge impact on food prices. So yes, the price of an iPad has not increased much in the last three years, but you can’t chop up an iPad and eat it. The notion that food and energy prices are up because of disasters and fires is silly. Those are just thing that create short term disruptions in supply but don’t have a long term effect on prices at all.

And Paul Krugman is an idiot! His socialist Keynesyean economic philosophy has failed miserably throughout the world . As for the Nobel prize he won, big deal! So did Obama before he served a day in office or ever made a signal decision to foster peace. That corrupt orginization embarrassed itself with that one.

Mark McCinnon is not a republican. I could care less what he says. How do you know that Ryan is against contraception? Did he tell you? Don’t be ridiculous. Roe vs Wade can’t be repealed. Stop reading Polutico. They cite those famous unnamed operatives. Pure unadulterated crap reporting.

As for the SCOTUS, right, what we need are brilliant justices like Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the courts who create law out of thin air. Kind of what Justice Rioberts did in June.

Life really sucked in this country under that right wing nut job Ronald Reagen. He killed Grandma, proposed repealing Roe v Wade, and all the other really really bad things that right wingers stand for. Life is infinitely better under this president, just like it was under Jimmy Carter.

Short term supply concerns. It will abate. Oil prices have been rising lately because of the perception that oth the US and Europe will be printing more money again, sending the dollar and the euro lower. If it happens, expect to see oil go past the old highs of about $120 per barrel.

It’s not trickle down economics, it’s capitalism. It works! The more money one has, the more money one spends which creates jobs. It’s that simple.

Czech – The Feds policies are not why the price of oil is high. The world wide price of oil has risen which affects everyone not just us…Oil prices are a a function of supply. It’s not demand that is driving them up. In fact, the world’s recession has limited demand. As much as the President would like to drive oil prices down, he just cant. Well, unless he were to start an unfunded war against an oil producing country….oops, tried that – didnt work….

Economics aside, we are in the toilet no matter who is at the helm…..its the social conservative Ryan/Romney (for effect) ticket that i worry about…..I dont want right wing religious zealots running my government…

Short term supply concerns. It will abate. Oil prices have been rising lately because of the perception that oth the US and Europe will be printing more money again, sending the dollar and the euro lower. If it happens, expect to see oil go past the old highs of about $120 per barrel.

It’s not trickle down economics, it’s capitalism. It works! The more money one has, the more money one spends which creates jobs. It’s that simple.

if the economy was healthy and we were at full or near full capacity…that would be true…increasing the money supply would increase inflation…..as we all know, the economy is no where near that….the private sector is not spending…business’ are not expanding or investing…..

ALLRIGHT NO MORE FROM ME….you will not be persuaded by anything i have to say…..

China is certainly a reason why oil prices have risen but not even close when compared o the dollar going down like a rock. Remember, oil was $30 dollars a barrel in 2009 after the financial crisis. The leading economies of the world have been stagnant to down the last three years so that is clearly not the reason. The only thing that’s happened since is the printing of money by the fed and the spending of it by Obama. That has destroyed the dollar. Another big factor is that the EPA has put major obsticles in oil and gas development and production, but that is only as much of a factor as China is. The biggest impact is the dollar.

About 4-6 weeks ago when everyone thought that Europe was about to implode, oil went down to about 70+ dollars a barrel. That’s because everyone was selling euros and buying dollars. The Euro fell from 1.37 of the dollar to 1.20 and the US 10year treasury yield went from 2% to a 1.40 handle, an all time low in yield.

FINAL POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION THAT MAKES EVERYTHING END IN A DRAW, NO WINNERS, AND HOPEFULLY ENDS ALL FURTHER POLITICAL COMMENTS HERE FOR NOW AND ALL TIME: Liberals are liberal because, like the Kennedys, they correctly feel that they’re unworthy of their possessions. Republicans, on the other hand, feel they deserve everything they’ve stolen.

Politics… the one thing that unites ALL traffic coordinators across the nation, no matter which cable system or radio station you work for. It creates nightmares, headaches, extensive overtime and by the time the election comes around, you are so sick of seeing the ads and trying to fit them all in, that you don’t give a rats assen who wins just as long as you don’t have to see those spots for a good 6 months.

Speaking of the Queen, when Margaret Thatcher’s son was arrested in South Africa for “being involved in a plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial New Guinea,” someone hung a large sheet from windows across from Thatcher’s residence that read: HELP ME, MUMMY!!

Mama had a great time at Bruce tonight. I was actually quite comforted that when singing Wrecking Ball and Bruce sings the Giants as part of his lyrics, half of Fenway Field booed while the other half cheered. What’s comforting is, that means that a lot of the people that cheered were New Yorkers and that means New Yorkers have invaded them the way they’ve invaded us.

LW, the players will always win the PR battle simply because they’re willing to take status quo and keep playing, while the owners want change and will stop play to get it. But the PR battle doesn’t mean either side is worth rooting for or against. It’s smart to not get caught up in sides, because it’s a no-win (as opposed to a must-win, which opening night will be).